Home appliance



1961 c. c. LEHMKUHL EI'AL 2,994,211

HOME APPLIANCE Filed April 6. 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS- flzzrs Iemye .901

1961 c. c. LEHMKUHL ETAL 2,994,211

HOME APPLIANCE Filed April 6. 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS- fiusUnite States Patent 2,994,211 HOME APPLIANCE Charles C. Lehmkuhl,Evansville, and George R. Forgy, Newburgh, Ind., assignors to WhirlpoolCorporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 6, 1959, Ser. No.804,173 8 Claims. (Cl. 62-262) This invention relates to airconditioners and more particularly to a room air conditioner which issubstantially positively sealed against the passage of outside elementsbetween the cabinet and the chassis.

In the installation of a room air conditioner in a room opening, such asa window, it is generally a simple matter to seal the outside of theouter cabinet to the window and to the sill to prevent the passage ofthe elements thereabout. The sealing of the space between the outercabinet and the inner chassis is more dilficult and undesirable elementssuch as insects, air and dirt commonly pass through the conditioner intothe room. The air conditioner of this invention provides a simple,inexpensive and positive seal which solves this problem.

The air conditioner of this invention has many advantages. It need notbe removed from the window during the winter season because it issubstantially sealed against cold. Further, it is comparatively easy toinsert the chassis of the air conditioner into the outer cabinet and toremove the same when it is desired, yet a positive seal will be providedautomatically each time the chassis is seated.

It is a feature of this invention to provide an air conditionercomprising an outer cabinet adapted to be arranged in a room opening, aninner air conditioner chassis in said cabinet spaced from the cabinet, aresilient sealing member positioned between said chassis and saidcabinet in said space and arranged to provide a seal against the passageof outside elements inwardly between the cabinet and the chassis intothe room, and means for enclosing the sealing force of the sealingmember with increasing pressure of said outside elements thereon.

Another feature of this invention is to provide an air conditionercomprising an outer cabinet adapted to be arranged in a room opening, aninner air conditioner chassis adapted to be removably positioned in saidcabinet, said chassis having a sealing surface thereon, and a resilientgasket positioned on the interior of said cabinet and arranged to abutsaid sealing surface to provide a seal against the passage of outsideelements between the cabinet and the chassis when said chassis is inposition within the cabinet.

A further feature of this invention is to provide an air conditionercomprising an outer cabinet adapted to be arranged in a room opening andhaving an opening into said room, an inner air conditioner chassisadapted 'to be removably positioned in said cabinet, said chassis havingsloping surfaces on the top, sides and bottom thereof, and an L-shapedresilient gasket positioned on the interior of the top, sides and bottomof said cabinet in a plane substantially parallel to and spaced fromsaid opening, one leg of said gasket being attached to said cabinet andthe other extending inwardly from said cabinet a sufiicient distance toabut said sloping surface ,to provide a seal against the passage of theoutside ele- 'ments between the cabinet and the chassis.

Other features and advantages of this invention will become apparentfrom the following description taken together with the accompanyingdrawings. Of the drawings:

' FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the chassis ,of a room airconditioner embodying the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a front view of the outer cabinet of a room air conditionerembodying the invention.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged partial perspective view of one lower corner ofthe outer cabinet of FIGURE 2 showing details of the sealing gasket.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged partial sectional view taken substantially alongthe line 44 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectional side view of the air conditionershowing a chassis during insertion in the cabinet.

FIGURE -6 is a sectional side view of the cabinet illustrating thesealing of the spaces between the cabinet and chassis.

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged partial View of the gasket and associatedstructure.

FIGURE 1 illustrates the chassis assembly 10 of a room air conditionerembodying part of the invention. The base pan 11 is formed of heavygauge sheet metal with an upturned flange 12 completely around theperimeter of the pan, and with embossments 11a (FIGURE 5) in its bottomsurface. On the room side of the chassis 10 there is an evaporatorhousing 14 mounted on the base 11. This housing encloses the refrigerantevaporator which is not shown. As is well known in the air conditioningart, room air is drawn over this evaporator surface where it is cooledand dehumidified and then returned to the room.

The top surface 16 of the evaporator housing 14 is on a horizontalplane, the right side (not shown) and left side 18 are in verticalplanes and extend from the top 16 down to the base 11. The back 17 ofthe evaporator housing is also in a vertical plane and extendslengthwise from the top 1 6 down to the base :11. At the point ofjunction between these three vertical members and the top of the housing14 there is a surface sloping at an angle at approximately 45 away fromthe room side. The sloping surface, generally designated by the numeral21, provides the proper surface for sealing with the weather seal gasket22 as will be described later. An insulated blower wheel housing 23 isattached to the rear of the evaporator housing 14.

At the outside end of the chassis is mounted a condenser 24 within thecondenser housing 26. The condenser 24 is of the conventional fin andtube construction. The condenser housing 26 is of sheet metalconstruction with the top 27, back 28 and sides 29 formed so as toprovide a covering around the condenser 24. At the back 28 of thecondenser housing is an opening 31 in which is located the condenser fan32. This fan 32 draws outside air through louvered panels 33 in thesides 30 and back 25 of the outer cabinet 35 which is shown in FIGURE 2,and passes this air over the condenser 24 to provide the necessarycooling. The condenser fan 32 is driven by the fan motor 34. The fanmotor 34 is of the conventional double-ended shaft construction and theshaft on the forward end of the motor is connected to the blower wheel(not shown) mounted within the blower wheel housing 23.

Also mounted between the evaporator housing 14 and the condenser housing26 is the refrigeration compressor 38. The air conditioner operates inthe conventional fashion in that a refrigerant is compressed in thecompressor 38 and discharged into the conduit 39 which is connected tothe inlet of the condenser 24. The compressed refrigerant vapor iscooled and condensed to a liquid within the condenser 24, the outlet ofwhich is connected to the capillary 41. Within the capillary 41 thepressure and temperature of the liquid refrigerant are reduced toprovide cold liquid refrigerant in the evaporator (not shown) connectedat the outlet of the capillary. After use in cooling room air, warmrefrigerant vapor enters the suction line 42, the outlet of which isconnected to the compressor inlet 43. Electrical wiring connections havebeen eliminated for simplicity in the drawings.

The tie plate 44 is mounted between the evaporator housing 14 and thecondenser housing 26 by means of screws 45 and provides for stabilitywithin the chassis assembly 10. Small gusset plates 46 provide strengthand stability at the bottom of the evaporator housing 14.

Mounted to the bottom of the base pan 11 by means of spot welding is abase pan sealing strip 47 which is formed of light gauge sheet metal andwhich extends across the entire base pan. This base pan sealing striphas a fiat horizontal section 48 and a section 49 at approximately a 45angle. The base pan sealing strip is located substantially in line withthe back 17 of the evaporator hous ing 14 and provides the sealingsurface for the weather seal gasket 22 along the bottom of the base pan11.

Also attached by spot welding to the bottom surface of the base pan 11are two base pan supports 51. These supports provide proper positioningsupport of the chassis assembly 10 when installed in the outer cabinet,as best seen in FIGURE 6. These supports also provide front legs so thatwhen the chassis assembly 10 is removed from the outer cabinet 35 andplaced on a fiat surface such as the floor, the base pan will sit leveland therefore protect the base pan sealing strip 47.

FIGURE 2 illustrates the outer cabinet 35 of the room air conditioner.The outer cabinet 35 comprises a top 50, sides 39 and a back 25 with anarrow inwardly turned flange 56 at the bottom of each side. The sheetmetal back 25 at the outside end of the outer cabinet 35 covers thecondenser 24. The back 25 and each of the sides 30 of the outer cabinetcontain louvered panels 33 for the passage of air. Spot welded to boththe side 39 and to the narrow flange 56 are two side rails 58, one oneach side. As best seen in FIGURE 3, these side rails are generallyL-shaped members having a vertically extending member 59 attached byspot welding to the side 39 of the outer cabinet 35. The side rails 58contain a bottom horizontal member 61 and extending diagonally upwardlytherefrom a short section ending in ahorizontally extending member 62.The upper horizontally extending member 62 is the part which supportsthe base pan 11 of the chassis when it is inserted into position withinthe outer cabinet. A short distance from the front of the side rails,the horizontal section 62 is debossed downwardly as shown at 63 toprovide a sufficient area for the passage of the weather seal gasket 22.

Connecting the two side rails -8 together in the immediate area of thedebossment 63 is the cabinet bottom front 64. This cabinet bottom front64 has a debossed area 66 extending for nearly the full length of thepart and a downwardly extending leg 67 at the very front. The downwardlyextending leg 67 is provided .to abut the inside edge of the windowstool at the time the outer cabinet 35 is installed within the windowframe.

The side rails 58 contain tabs 52 formed from the vertical sides 59, theouter portions of the tab serving to horizontally position and guide thebase pan 11 during the time the chassis is being inserted within theouter cabinet 35.

The weather seal gasket 22 completely encircles the inside surface ofthe outer cabinet 35 as is seen in FIG- UR'ES 3 and 4. The gasket 22 isheld in place on all four sides by the gasket retainers generallyindicated by the numeral 53.

The cross section of the gasket 22 and the gasket retainer 53 are shownclearly in FIGURES 4 and 7. The gasket is made of a resilient materialsuch as rubber and is generally L-shaped. It consists of a longvertically extending leg member 13 at right angle to the plane of themounting surface 15. The horizontally extending mounting leg 19 isgenerally triangular in shape to provide for easy insertion and positiveretention of the gasket by the gasket retainers 53. The gasket retainers53 are formed of light gauge sheet metal and are designed to be spotwelded at the horizontal surface 20 to the inside of the outer cabinettop 50, the sides 30 and to the cabinet bottom front 64. The gasketretainers also include a diagonally extending section 36 coinciding withthe triangular-shaped mounting leg 19 of the gasket 22 and aninwardly-turned leg 37 under which the gasket 22 is snapped at the timeof its insertion.

The manner in which a seal is obtained between the outer cabinet and thechassis is illustrated in FIGURES 5 and 6 which show the insertion ofthe important part of the chassis 10 within the outer cabinet 35. FIGURE5 illustrates the relationship of the outer cabinet 35 and the chassis10 when the chassis is only partially inserted within the outer cabinet.The main lower surface 40 of the base pan 11 is seen to be riding on thehorizontally extending surface 54 of the side rails 58. The debossedportion 11a at the rear of the base pan is forcibly bending the weatherseal gasket 22 backward. Because of the design of the gasket, the longvertical leg 13 may be turned in this extreme condition and thetriangular mounting section 19 will still retain the gasket 22 under thegasket retainer 53.

FIGURE 6 illustrates the chassis assembly finally positioned within theouter cabinet. It will be observed that the base pan sealing strip 4-7has now made contact with the weather seal gasket 22 along the bottom ofthe outer cabinet 35, and that the sloping surface 21 along the top ofthe evaporator housing 14 has now made contact with the gasket mountedto the top of the outer cabinet. The sloping surface 21 at the twovertical sides of the evaporator housing also makes contact with theweather seal gasket mounted to the sides of the outer cabinet in asimilar manner.

FIGURE 7 shows the contact achieved by extending leg 13 of the gasket 22and the sloping surface 21 of the evaporator 14. This same close contactis made with the base pan sealing strip 47, thus providing a sealextending around the entire outer cabinet 35 and the chassis 10. Thisseal provides the desirable features which have been discussed, yetstill permitting easy insertion of the chassis.

Having described our invention as related to the embodiments shown inthe accompanying drawings, it-is our tention that the invention be notlimited by any .of the details of description, unless otherwisespecified, but rather be construed broadly within its spirit and scopeas set out in the accompanying claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. An air conditioner, comprising: an outer cabinet having top, bottomand side walls adapted to be arranged in a room opening; an inner airconditioner chassis in said cabinet spaced from the cabinet; a sealingsurface positioned in said space and extending about said chassis andsaid cabinet walls; a resilient gasket having a freely movable sealinglip positioned between said chassis and the top, bottom and side wallsof said cabinet in said space and arranged to abut said sealing surfaceto provide a seal against the passage of outside weather elementsinwardly between the cabinet and the chassis into the room.

2. An air conditioner, comprising: an outer cabinet having top, bottomand side walls adapted to be arranged in a room opening; an inner airconditioner chassis adapted to be removably positioned in said cabinet,said chassis having a sealing surface thereabout; and a resilient gasketon the interior of the top, bottom and side walls of said cabinet havinga freely movable, inwardly extending leg normally abutting against thesaid sealing surface to provide a seal against the passage of outsideweather elemen-ts inwardly between the cabinet and the chassis.

3. An air conditioner, comprising: an outer cabinet having top, bottomand side walls adapted to be arranged in a room opening and having anopening into said room;

an inner air conditioner chassis adapted to be removably positioned insaid cabinet, said chassis having sloping surfaces on the top, sides andbottom thereof; and an L- shaped resilient gasket positioned on theinterior of the top, bottom and side walls of said cabinet in a planesubstantially parallel to and spaced from said opening, one leg of saidgasket being attached to said cabinet and the other extending inwardlyfrom said cabinet a suflicient distance to abut said sloping surfaces toprovide a seal against the passage of the outside elements between thecabinet and the chassis.

4. An air conditioner, comprising: an outer cabinet having top, bottomand side walls adapted to be arranged in a room opening and having anopening into said room; an inner air conditioner chassis adapted to beremovably positioned in said cabinet having mounted thereon means forcooling and conditioning room air including a base pan, an evaporatorand a housing therefor; said housing resting on said base pan andincluding substantially vertical back and sides and a substantiallyhorizontal top, the areas of junction between the vertical back andsides and the horizontal top defining short surfaces sloping away fromsaid opening; a base pan sealing strip positioned on the bottom of saidpan substantially in line with said surfaces and having a sectionsloping away from said opening; and a resilient gasket positioned on theinterior of the top, bottom and side walls of said cabinet having aflexible, freely movable leg normally abutting said sloping surface andsaid sloping section to provide a seal against the passage of theoutside elements inwardly between the cabinet and the chassis.

5, The device of claim 4 wherein said surface and said section slope atan angle of about 45.

6. An air conditioner, comprising: an outer cabinet adapted to bearranged in a room opening and having an opening into said room; aninner chassis adapted to be removably positioned in said cabinet havingmounted thereon means for cooling and conditioning room air including abase pan, an evaporator and a housing therefor; said housing resting onsaid base pan and including a substantially vertical back and sides anda substantially horizontal top, the point of junction between thevertical back and sides and the horizontal top defining a short surfacesloping away from said opening; a base pan sealing strip positioned onthe bottom of said pan substantially in line with said surface andhaving a section sloping away from said opening and arranged tocooperate with said surface; an L-shaped resilient gasket positioned onthe interior of the top, sides and bottom of said cabinet in a planesubstantially parallel to and spaced from said opening, one leg of saidgasket having a generally triangular shape with the base of saidtriangle abutting said cabinet; and means for holding said gasket inposition on said cabinet; the other leg of said gasket extending awayfrom said cabinet a suflicient distance to abut said sloping surface andsaid sloping section to provide a substantially positive seal againstthe passage of the outside elements between the cabinet and the chassis.

7. An air conditioner, comprising: an outer cabinet adapted to bearranged in a room opening and having an opening into said room; aninner chassis adapted to be removably positioned in said cabinet havingmounted thereon means for cooling and conditioning room air including abase pan, an evaporator and a housing therefor; said housing resting onsaid base pan and including a substantially vertical back and sides anda substantially horizontal top, the point of junction between thevertical back and sides and the horizontal top defining a short surfacesloping away from said opening; a base pan sealing strip positioned onthe bottom of said pan substantially in line with said surface andhaving a section sloping away from said opening and arranged tocooperate with said surface; an L-shaped resilient gasket positioned onthe interior of the top, sides and bottom of said cabinet in a planesubstantially parallel to and spaced from said opening, one leg of saidgasket having a generally triangular shape with the base of saidtriangle abutting said cabinet; and a gasket retainer adapted to beattached to the surface of said cabinet having a diagonally extendingsection adapted to substantially coincide with the triangularshaped legof said gasket and an inwardly turned retaining leg under which saidgasket is snapped at the time of insertion; the other leg of said gasketextending away from said cabinet a sufiicient distance to abut saidsloping surface and said sloping section to provide a substantiallypositive seal against the passage of the outside elements between thecabinet and the chassis.

8. The device of claim 7 including a plurality of said gasket retainers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,011,078 Replogle Aug. 13, 1935 2,269,205 Hubbard Jan. 6, 19422,525,868 Cornanidis Oct. 17, 1950 2,777,303 Slattery Jan. 15, 19572,799,062 Cal-Ian July 16, 1957 2,826,048 Wheeler Mar. 11, 1958

